1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network management system. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a network management system to manage the state of a fault network element and to notify a fault occurrence location in a large-scale communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
An conventional example of a network fault management system will be described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 5-33692). According to the system described in this reference, the state of a fault is checked based on a structure data of a tree form. That is, a knowledge base is previously prepared to store a fault diagnostic tree in which nodes represent various fault states. The fault diagnostic tree is traced based on fault data received from an apparatus in which any fault has occurred, to specify a kind of the fault.
Also, in the large-scale network, distribution management is generally used for the network fault management system. In the distribution management system, fault data is displayed for every distributed network management system. The fault data indicative of a fault which has occurred in the network is individually stored in the network management system in the order of occurrence of the fault. The fault data are displayed in a table form and are displayed in a graphic form, using the structure diagram of network elements. Instead, the apparatus in which the fault has occurred is displayed with a different color from normal apparatuses on the map showing the network structure.
In the network fault data management system described above, the fault can be specified using the fault diagnostic tree. However, the processing for specifying a fault occurrence location is not considered.
Also, for example, in the distributed network management system, the fault occurrence apparatus can be displayed on the network configuration screen. However, it is not possible to show what fault occurs where in the apparatus on the same screen. For this reason, the operator needs to change a control to the network management system which manages the fault occurrence apparatus and to change a display screen to the fault data screen of the apparatus. Especially, when a plurality of faults which have occurred in a plurality of network management systems should be displayed, the number of times of the changing operation of the display screen increases. Moreover, the fault data is dynamic, and generally, the occurrence and restoration of the faults are repeated in the large-scale network. Therefore, in the conventional fault data management system, the load of the operator becomes heavy.
In the conventional large scale network fault management system, it is this difficult for the operator who manages the network to grasp the occurrence locations of all faults which have occurred in the system and the states of the faults.
In conjunction with the above description, a large scale alarm display system is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 2-301895). In this reference, the large scale alarm display system is composed of a network management system and a network alarm display unit. The network management system receives alarm information from each of network elements of the large scale network. Then, network management system carries out a display control of the alarm information from a level indicative of alarm contents of the whole large scale network to alarm contents of the network element as a minimum component of the network for every layer. The network alarm display unit receives the output of the network management system to display the alarm information.
Also, a network structure display system is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 6-205007). In this reference, a station (ST2) and branch units (BB1 and BB2) which are connected to a component control unit (DU1) are displayed on a ring (16a). A network management unit (SGM) connected to the branch unit (BB1) and a station (ST1) connected to the branch unit (BB2) are displayed on rings (17a and 17b), respectively. The structure is determined by referring to a physical connection form and by detecting a logical connection order, and then is displayed on a CRT.
Also, a communication network fault display system is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 6-141029). In this reference, a summary screen/a portion screen of a fault and a warning sound are determined based on programs (106 to 109) stored in a program memory (110) using a display information data base (104) which stores a network map group and relation of communication network elements and display data. The determined screen group is automatically displayed on a CRT (111), and a buzzer sound is outputted from a buzzer sound outputting unit (114). Thus, in a network management display system, the screen group indicating the whole states and details of the fault is automatically determined and displayed to quickly inform to an operator.
Also, a communication network monitoring system is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 7-143123). In this reference, the network monitoring system collects fault alarms of components of a communication network to display on a hierarchical monitor screen. In this case, the fault alarms notified from the components of the communication network are classified for each of display elements on the monitor screen, and fault information related with the fault alarm is displayed in neighborhood of the relating display element. Thus, the fault alarm can be related with the corresponding display element in an upper level network map.
Also, a fault diagnosis apparatus is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 7-143123). In this reference, a central processing unit (2) is connected with an input unit (3), a display unit (4), and a storage unit (1), and is composed of a diagnosis unit (20) for diagnosing a fault. A plurality of diagnosis data are stored in the storage unit (1) in correspondence to fault states, respectively. The diagnosis unit (20) is composed of a diagnosis tree selecting section (21), a testing section (22), a diagnosis tree designating section (21) and a test result determining section (23). The diagnosis tree selecting section (21) selects a diagnosis tree and a node relating to a fault to be handled from among nodes indicative of the fault states stored in a knowledge base (11). The testing section (22) tests in accordance with the content of the selected node. The test result determining section (23) selects the node having the highest probability from among the nodes indicative of the fault states and informs it to the diagnosis tree designating section (21) and controls the display unit (4) to display it.
Also, a fault diagnosis apparatus is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 7-200499). In this reference, a central processing apparatus (2) is connected with an input unit (3), a display unit (4) and a storage unit (1). The central processing apparatus (2) is provided with a diagnosis unit (20). A plurality of diagnosis data are stored in the storage unit (1) in correspondence to fault states, respectively. The diagnosis unit (20) is composed of a diagnosis tree selecting section (21), a diagnosing section (22), a diagnosing result determining section (23). The diagnosis tree selecting section (21) selects nodes related to a fault to be measured from among nodes of the diagnosis tree of a knowledge base (11) stored in the storage unit (1). The diagnosing section (22) carries out the diagnosis based on the content defined in each of the selected nodes. The diagnosing result determining section (23) specifies the node indicating the fault state with the highest probability from among the selected nodes based on the diagnosis results and controls the display unit (4) to display the specified node and the related data.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide the technique for specifying the occurrence locations of faults which have occurred in a network and the fault classification.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the technique for dynamically managing fault data which dynamically changes.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, a method of managing faults on a network including network elements as nodes, is attained by receiving a fault association notice having a fault occurrence position identifier and a fault data, the fault occurrence position identifier indicating a fault node in which a fault has occurred, and the fault data indicating a data associated with the fault. Then, the method is attained by determining whether any fault node indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice is present in a fault node indication data set in a tree form, and by generating a fault node indication data based on the fault occurrence position identifier to add to the fault node indication data set in the tee form, when any fault node indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier is not present in a fault node indication data set. In addition, the method is attained by determining whether any fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is present in a fault indication data set, the fault indication data indicating a type of the fault, and generating a fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data based on the fault data to add to the fault indication data set, when the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is not present in the fault indication data set. The method is attained by displaying the fault node indication data set in the tree form and the fault indication data set in response to the fault association notice or a display instruction.
Here, the fault data of the fault association notice may include a restoration data indicating that the fault has been restored. At this time, the method may be attained by deleting the fault node indication data corresponding to the fault association notice from the fault node indication data set and the fault indication data corresponding to the fault association notice from the fault indication data set in response to the restoration data of the fault association notice. In this case, the fault data of the fault association notice may include an fault importance level indicating whether the fault is important, and the fault indication data includes a fault importance indication data. At this time, the method may be attained by updating the fault importance indication data of the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice based on the fault importance level, when the fault node indication data and the fault indication data are not generated and the fault data of the fault association notice does not include the restoration data.
Also, in the generating a fault node indication data, a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the first display indication data including a symbol. In the generating a fault indication data, a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the second display indication data including a character string. At this time, in the displaying, the fault node indication data set in the tree form and the fault indication data set are displayed based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction.
Also, in the generating a fault node indication data, a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the first display indication data including a symbol. In the generating a fault indication data, a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the second display indication data including a character string. At this time, in the deleting, the first and second display indication data respectively corresponding to the fault node indication data and the fault indication data are deleted. Also, In the displaying, the fault node indication data set in the tree form and the fault indication data set is displayed based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction, and the fault node indication data set in the tree form of the fault nodes from which the fault node is deleted is displayed.
Also, in the generating the fault node indication data, a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the first display indication data including a symbol. In the generating the fault indication data, a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier may be generated, the second display indication data including a character string. In the updating, the second display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice may be updated based on the fault importance level, when the fault node indication data and the fault indication data are not generated and the fault indication data of the fault association notice does not include the restoration data. At this time, in the displaying, the tree form of the fault nodes and the data associated with the fault are displayed based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction, and the tree form of the fault nodes in one of which the fault importance level is updated is displayed.
Also, the fault node indication data of the fault node has an address to a list of parent node addresses corresponding to a parent node, an address to a list of child node addresses which designate child nodes connected to the fault node, and a list of fault indication data addresses which designate the fault indication data.
Also, in the generating the fault node indication data, a new data generation flag may be set when the fault node indication data is generated. In the determining whether a fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is present in a fault indication data set, the new data generation flag is checked to determine whether a fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is present in a fault indication data set.
In order to achieve another aspect of the present invention, a network fault managing system for a network including network elements as nodes, includes a fault node indication data storage section, a fault indication data storage section, a flag, a fault node indication data processing section, a fault indication data processing section and an output unit. The fault node indication data storage section stores a fault node indication data set in which fault nodes are managed in a tree form. The fault node indication data processing section receives a fault association notice having a fault occurrence position identifier and a fault indication data, the fault occurrence position identifier indicating a fault node in which a fault has occurred, and the fault indication data indicating data associated with the fault, and determines whether a fault node indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice is present in the fault node indication data set. Also, the fault node indication data processing section generates the fault node indication data based on the fault occurrence position identifier to store in the fault node indication data set of the fault node indication data storage section, when the fault node indication data is not present in the fault node indication data set, and sets the flag. The fault indication data processing section determines based on the flag, whether a fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is present in a fault indication data set, the fault indication data indicating a type of the fault, and generates the fault indication data based on the fault indication data to store in fault indication data set of the fault indication data set, when the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data is not present in the fault indication data set. The output unit outputs the fault node indication data set in the tree form and at least a part of the fault indication data set.
Here, the fault indication data of the fault association notice may include a restoration data indicating that the fault has been restored. At this time, the fault node indication data processing section deletes the fault node indication data from the fault node indication data set in response to the restoration data of the fault association notice. The fault indication data processing section deletes the fault indication data from the fault indication data set in response to the restoration data of the fault association notice.
Also, the fault indication data of the fault association notice may include an fault importance level indicating whether the fault is important, and the fault indication data includes a fault importance indication data. In this case, the fault indication data processing section updates the fault importance indication data of the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice based on the fault importance level, when the fault node indication data and the fault indication data are not generated and the fault indication data of the fault association notice does not include the restoration data.
Also, the fault node indication data processing section may generate a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the first display indication data including a symbol. At this time, the fault indication data processing section generates a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the second display indication data including a character string. The output unit outputs the tree form of the fault nodes and a data associated with the fault based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction.
Also, the fault node indication data processing section generates a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the first display indication data including a symbol, and deletes the first and second display indication data respectively corresponding to the fault node indication data. At this time, the fault indication data processing section generates a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the second display indication data including a character string, deleting the first and second display indication data respectively corresponding to the fault node indication data and the fault indication data, and deletes the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node indication data. The output unit outputs the tree form of the fault nodes and a data associated with the fault based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction, and outputs the tree form of the fault nodes from which the fault node is deleted.
Also, the fault node indication data processing section may generate a first display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the first display indication data including a symbol. At this time, the fault indication data processing section generates a second display indication data for the fault indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier, the second display indication data including a character string. Also, the fault indication data processing section updates the second display indication data corresponding to the fault node specified by the fault occurrence position identifier of the fault association notice based on the fault importance level, when the fault node indication data and the fault indication data are not generated and the fault indication data of the fault association notice does not include the restoration data. The output unit outputs the tree form of the fault nodes and the data associated with the fault based on the first and second display indication data in response to the fault association notice or the display instruction, and outputs the tree form of the fault nodes in one of which the fault importance level is updated.
Also, the fault node indication data of the fault node may have an address of a list of parent node addresses corresponding to a parent node, an address to a list of child node addresses which designate child nodes connected to the fault node, and a list of fault indication data addresses which designate the fault indication data.
In order to achieve still another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium in which a program is stored to execute the above-mentioned methods of managing faults on a network including network elements as nodes.